Dave Nonis’ best deadline acquisition may be one he didn’t have to lift a finger to acquire.

After a brutally mediocre January, which at one point saw the team ice just one of their six starting defensemen in a game against Dallas, the injury-plagued Canucks are seeing light at the end of the tunnel — and not a moment to soon. Fresh off a pair of back-to-back wins for the first time in since January 8th (since December 30th if we’re looking outside the shootout), the Canucks have more good news: they maybe getting Kevin Bieksa back as early as tonight’s game.

Bieksa was in Chicago playing for the Moose last night, his first game action since November 1st, when Vern Fiddler’s skate clipped the back of his calf. He’s missed 47 games so far, but that number may stop growing, as after the game, Bieksa was immediately recalled to join the team in Nashville.

Ironic, it was a wake-up call against the Predators that gave the Canucks the emotional lift they needed — that same blood-filled game that saw the team lose both Bieksa and Salo. Horrible as it was, it was also something of a blessing in disguise: the previously lacklustre Canucks rallied to save their season, and the injuries paved the way for Alex Edler to make a name for himself. Most of all, Bieksa, before the injury, may have been the Canucks’ worst defenseman this season, clearly not over the oblique tear he suffered in last year’s playoffs. If the time off helped him heal that injury as well, Vancouver will be getting back a much better player than they initially lost — and on going down the stretch, it couldn’t come at a better time. The Canucks, who just last week were “done for”, are right back in the thick of things: get on a bit of a roll here and they could even catch the surging Ducks — who lead them by 7 points — as the Canucks have four games in hand.

Can’t count your chickens of course, but if Vigneault wants to give his team a bit of a lift, Bieksa’s return could do just that. Add to that the confirmed return of Taylor Pyatt (who left the Saturday Night Fight after Zack Stortini hit him into the boards and missed Tuesday’s tilt in Minnesota), and the looming return of Brendan Morrison in the coming weeks, and things are starting to look up around here.

Funny enough, as Bieksa gets set to return, it was announced Lukas Krajicek will miss the remainder of the season after getting rocked by Keith Tkachuk in the last game before the all-star break, making it official: the Canucks will never once this season ice the top six they had on paper coming into the year. And who says we have too many defensemen?